1-1 By: Harris S.B. No. 547
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 16, 1999; February 17, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
1-4 March 17, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 4,
1-5 Nays 0; March 17, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the classification of certain child support claims
1-9 against the estate of a decedent.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 322, Texas Probate Code, is amended to
1-12 read as follows:
1-13 Sec. 322. CLASSIFICATION OF CLAIMS AGAINST ESTATES OF
1-14 DECEDENT. Claims against an estate of a decedent shall be
1-15 classified and have priority of payment, as follows:
1-16 Class 1. Funeral expenses and expenses of last sickness for
1-17 a reasonable amount to be approved by the court, not to exceed a
1-18 total of Fifteen Thousand Dollars, with any excess to be classified
1-19 and paid as other unsecured claims.
1-20 Class 2. Expenses of administration and expenses incurred in
1-21 the preservation, safekeeping, and management of the estate.
1-22 Class 3. Secured claims for money under Section 306(a)(1),
1-23 including tax liens, so far as the same can be paid out of the
1-24 proceeds of the property subject to such mortgage or other lien,
1-25 and when more than one mortgage, lien, or security interest shall
1-26 exist upon the same property, they shall be paid in order of their
1-27 priority.
1-28 Class 4. Claims for the principal amount of and accrued
1-29 interest on delinquent child support and child support arrearages
1-30 that have been confirmed and reduced to money judgment, as
1-31 determined under Subchapter F, Chapter 157, Family Code.
1-32 Class 5. Claims for taxes, penalties, and interest due
1-33 under Title 2, Tax Code; Chapter 8, Title 132, Revised Statutes;
1-34 Section 81.111, Natural Resources Code; the Municipal Sales and Use
1-35 Tax Act (Chapter 321, Tax Code); Section 451.404, Transportation
1-36 Code; or Subchapter I, Chapter 452, Transportation Code.
1-37 Class 6 [5]. Claims for the cost of confinement established
1-38 by the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal
1-39 Justice under Section 501.017, Government Code.
1-40 Class 7 [6]. Claims for repayment of medical assistance
1-41 payments made by the state under Chapter 32, Human Resources Code,
1-42 to or for the benefit of the decedent.
1-43 Class 8 [7]. All other claims.
1-44 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-45 applies only to the estate of a decedent who dies on or after that
1-46 date.
1-47 (b) The estate of a decedent who dies before the effective
1-48 date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date of
1-49 the decedent's death, and the former law is continued in effect for
1-50 that purpose.
1-51 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-52 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-53 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-54 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-55 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-56 * * * * *